Last Chance
by padfoot356
Summary: Lily enters her last year at Hogwarts as a quiet girl affected by her surroundings. It's not until she befriends the Marauders that she finds the true Lily, and possibly some love along the way.
1. The Hardest Goodbye

Last Chance

By: Padfoot356

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything related to it belongs to JK Rowling. The plot of this story and all of the characters you do not recognize belong to me.

A/N: This story does not follow the books exactly, for example Lily and James are not head boy and girl. Hopefully you will enjoy it just the same. This is just an experiment to see how this chapter goes, if all is well then who knows, maybe there will be more to follow. Mischievous grin

_Click. Click. Click._ The sound of her ballet flats could be heard through out the store as Lily Evans made her way to the back room. She opened the door slowly to find a squat woman with short blonde hair sitting nervously beside a small cardboard box. She rose as Lily entered the room, tears filling up her blue eyes.

"Oh, Honey," she gushed wrapping Lily's petite frame into an overwhelming hug. "I'm going to miss you so much."

"You say that every time I leave," said Lily tenderly.

"I know, but things just aren't the same without you here." Lily gave her a sympathetic smile as she made her way towards the box.

"I should probably get going," Lily began; she was never good at goodbyes.

"I guess so," said the blonde as she exhaled deeply. "I'll see you when you come home this Christmas."

_"Right,"_ Lily thought to herself. _"Home, where ever that is."_

"Bye, Meredith. Thank you so much for everything."

"Oh, goodbye Honey," said Meredith, giving Lily one last hug. Lily slipped out of the room, her box slightly slumping her posture. She stopped at the front counter, placing a set of keys on the desk and then left through the front door, the bell chiming as she stepped onto the hot asphalt. Lily turned around one last time to look at the small boutique she had just left, resting the box on her hip. '_Bookish Beauty'_ the sign read. Lily remembered when she first applied for a job there her first summer after she turned 16, she was going through some hard times at home and the owner, Meredith, had took her under her wing as a motherly figure.

            Lily got into her car and started up the engine, turning up the radio as loud as it would go. As she began to back out of the parking lot she looked at the image reflected in her rearview mirror, barely recognizing the girl staring back. Creamy white skin, dyed black hair, startling green eyes that had somehow lost their sparkle, all the result of everything going wrong in her life, a result of her rebellion.

 A few minutes later she stopped in front of a small house, its paint peeling and the shudders hanging off unevenly, defiantly something her mother wouldn't approve of. She made her way to the front door and let herself in, being welcomed by the thumping of an amp and the rhythmic sound of drums playing their last set. She followed the music to the basement, arriving just as the song ended. Lily walked up to the guitarist slowly.

_"The hardest goodbye,"_ she thought.

"Sumner…" she began, not knowing where to begin.

"Hi," he said tersely.

"I just wanted to-,"

"Lily, stop. Just stop," Sumner said as he raised his head from putting away his guitar, his piercing blue eyes peeping out from behind a mop of shaggy brown hair and meeting hers with a sudden jolt. The others had left and now it was just the two of them. Alone. Together. "I'm tired of this. You leave every year at the end of summer with no explanation at all. We've gone through so much to be together, but you wont even tell me where you are for 10 months. All I ever get is the odd letter here and there delivered by an _owl_."

"Sumner I can explain," began Lily, her voice choking.

"No, that's the thing, you can't. I've put up with this for the past few years but lets face it. We're growing up. We're too old for these games."

"What are you trying to say?" She asked, although she knew the answer perfectly well.

"I'm trying to say goodbye, Lily. For good." A wave of shock and grief flooded Lily's face. Everything paused for that brief moment. '_For good_.' She didn't know what to do, she looked at Sumner but he was already leaving, making his way up the concrete staircase to the main floor of the house. She knew she couldn't stay in the basement forever, so she followed his footsteps slowly, everything passing by as if she wasn't in her body, as if this wasn't really happening.

She left the deteriorating house and got back into her car. She looked at the box besides her containing a solitary picture frame; a couple of records, a book tossed listlessly into the pile, all the remains of her muggle life, and broke down. Lily usually wasn't one for crying. She didn't cry when her parents separated or when her sister left her for that large mass she called a boyfriend, or even later on when her father died of bone cancer, but this was different. Everything she cared about was gone. '_For good_.' Meredith. Sumner. Her family. After an instant and a few goodbyes she was left empty. She felt dark and hollow inside, as if she would never be filled up with happiness again.

Lily didn't bother going home after that, it's not as if it would have mattered anyways. She didn't expect anything from her mother, not even a good bye. She got out of her car at Kings Cross station. Deciding just to leave it there, she wasn't sure if she'd be coming back. She dragged her trunk out of the backseat and made her way into the busy building. As she made the crossing between platforms 9 and 10 she could see the scarlet _Hogwarts Express_ gleaming in the distance. She decided to stay back for a little while, not in the mood to mingle with her peers or explain her red eyes, swollen from crying. She watched silently as the crowd slowly deteriorated and got onto the train.

"Hogwarts Express!" The conductor called. "Last chance."

_"Last chance,"_ Lily thought. The conductor was right. This was her last chance to be who _she_ wanted to be, not Sumner, not her sister, definitely not her mother. This was her last year at Hogwarts and she was going to go onto that train making the most of it.

"Merlin, Lily! Where have you been? I didn't think you'd show up."

"Nice to see you too, Hannah," Lily said smiling.

"Oh you know I've missed you," laughed Hannah, her blonde hair shining in the light coming in through the window of their compartment. "So how was your summer?"

"Eventful to say the least."

"Why? What happened?" Hannah said in a worried tone. She was always worried about Lily, whether she knew it or not.

"Sumner and I broke up. You were right, it never would have worked out."

"I never said that!"

"Mmmhmm, sure Hannah, it's all in the facial expressions," joked Lily as she waved her hands in front of her face vivaciously.

"_Riiight_," laughed Hannah. Just at that moment the door slid open and a sandy haired boy popped his head in.

"Um, mind if we sit here?" He asked. Lily looked behind him to see just what 'we' he was referring to. Piled behind the boy were three others, two towering above another. One had untidy raven hair and horn-rimmed glasses framing eager hazel eyes. The next sported shaggy brown hair atop a lanky frame. The last was stocky with watery blue eyes. She should have known. Remus Lupin, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. The Marauders.  Hannah took a quick glance towards Lily who just shrugged.

"Sure," Hannah answered.

"Thanks."

            The boys piled in and sat down just as the train's wheels began to rotate. Lily found herself sandwiched between Hannah and Remus and sitting across from James who was, well, bluntly staring at her. Or as she saw it, her unnatural hair colour. As the minutes passed by everyone had seemed to drift off to sleep except for Lily and Remus who had busied himself in a book.

"That's a nice necklace," he suddenly said, gesturing to her neck. Lily automatically fingered it, remembering when Sumner had given it to her for her birthday last year. She had forgotten to take it off.

"Oh," she began. "Thanks, it was a gift."

"They must have liked you a lot to give you something like that."

"Yea, I guess they did," she said slowly, ignoring the lump growing in her throat. After an awkward silence Remus spoke up again. 

"I see you around a lot, you know."

"Really?" Lily asked, genuinely surprised. She always made an effort to blend in with the crowd, go unnoticed.

"James pointed you out to me one day, and now it seems like I see you everywhere. I've been wanting to talk to you, I just haven't seemed to have gotten a chance well, until now."  Lily began looking down at her feet; the last think she wanted was for Remus Lupin to see her blushing. "So are you into Quidditch?"

"Not really," she answered with a laugh. "I never could get the hang of it."

"Ha, me neither. It's weird being around Sirius and James when they're the bloody Quidditch stars of Gryffindor."

"Sounds like it."

"Oh yea, that's me. Remus Lupin, the odd one of the group," he said with a forced laugh.

"I know exactly what you mean," Lily said with a sigh. "Hannah is my best friend, but her life just seems so…"

"Perfect?" Asked Remus, raising his eyebrows and leaning in closer to Lily.

"Exactly." Lily wondered how Remus could understand her so well when his life seemed just as faultless as everyone else's in the compartment, but she couldn't muster up the courage to ask. Suddenly the train came to a screeching halt, awakening the sleeping occupants.

"Last stop," came the crackling voice of he conductor being amplified magically throughout the train. "Hogsmead."

"Ready?" Sirius asked the other Marauders as he rose from his seat. Remus, James, and Peter simultaneously nodded and began to walk out of the compartment.

"It was nice talking to you, Lily," Remus said over his shoulder as he left. Lily watched as James pulled Remus out of the compartment and down the narrow corridor or the train.

"What was that about?" asked Hannah, her voice breaking the silence as she raised an eyebrow in Lily's general direction.

"Nothing really, we just talked on the way here. He's actually a decent guy," stated Lily honestly.

"Decent? It sounds to me as you're getting over Sumner sooner than we thought."

"Ha, right Hannah. Me like Remus Lupin? Defiantly not my style."

"I didn't realize you had a style."

"Yea, well… are we going or not?" Lily asked impatiently, not knowing how to respond to her friend's assessment. Hannah always had a way of reading Lily, whether Lily liked it or not.

"I am pleased to welcome you to another year at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore's voice boomed throughout the Great Hall. Lily knew that this was the time that Dumbledore gave his annual beginning of term speech and that she should be listening, but she was distracted by Remus's hair as it swished across the back of his neck when he would laugh at something James was saying. She knew she was behaving like one of those giddy girls who hopelessly stared at the Marauders hoping for a date to Hogsmead, but she just couldn't help herself.

            Throughout the rest of the evening Lily remained quiet as she picked at the vegetables sitting lifelessly on her plate. She practically haunted the Hogwarts hallways as she made her way up to the tower and into the Gryffindor common room. She politely smiled at a few familiar faces as she made a beeline for the girls' dormitories. She had almost made it when….

"Hey Lily!" Lily turned around to see Remus grinning at her. "You dropped this," he said as he stuck out a folded piece of parchment.

"I don't think that's mine," she said dazed.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure it is," he said as he pressed the note into her hand. "Gotta go, see you around." Lily stared at her hand as if she never knew it was there before. She went up the staircase and was safely alone in her dorm when she opened the note for the first time.

Lily- 

_Some of us are getting together tomorrow night to go to Hogsmead._

_We were hoping you and Hannah would come along. Meet us in the_

_common room at midnight._

_Hope to see you there,_

_Remus_

"What are you reading?" Hannah asked as she entered the room. Lily passes her the note and watched Hannah as she scanned it.

"Well?" Lily asked.

"What do you mean well? We're going."

"My thoughts exactly," Lily said with a smile.

_A/N: Well there it is, the first chapter. Please review to tell me your thoughts; this was kind of a spur of the moment fic so I have honestly no clue as to what kind of reaction it will get. _

_Thank you so much for reading!_

_Padfoot356_


	2. Opening Up

Last Chance Chapter 2- Opening Up

Disclaimer: All characters and everything related to them belong to JK Rowling. The plot and anything you don't recognize belongs to me. I must add that some ideas and names have been inspired from novels written by Sarah Dessen.

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and you don't wanna be here in the future

so you say the present's just a pleasant interruption to the past

and you don't wanna look much closer

cuz your afraid to find out all this hope you had sent into the sky by now had crashed

Something Corporate

_Konstantine_

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Lily woke up to the 'ping!' of rocks hitting against her bedroom window. She couldn't help but smile as she padded across her floor and towards the window. A cool summer breeze tickled her rosy cheeks as she slid open the pane to reveal Sumner at the bottom. His shadow now illuminated by the light cascading down from her bedroom.

"What do you want?" Lily whispered, aware of her mother sleeping in a near by room.

"I missed you," Sumner answered, flashing her the boyish grin that never ceased to make her knees grow weak.

"Lily wake up," a voice said, taking Lily out of her slumber and shoving her head first back into reality. "It's twelve. We've got to go."

"Ok, ok," Lily said groggily, she got out of bed and slipped out of her school robes, being careful not to wake her sleeping dorm mates. She silently cursed herself for thinking about what happened between her and Sumner over the summer. To her, remembering what they shared was a sign of weakness. Holding onto something in the past meant that she couldn't handle present. Nothing lasts forever, you have to learn how to move on, how not to get attached. This was the mantra she had began to live by since she was 13 years old. Since everything changed. Lily turned toward Hannah, "After you."

They slipped out of the room and tip toed down the stairs. One look at the marauders lounging on the plush sofas in the common room made Lily's heart jump and her mind begin to race. How had she come to this point? Self proclaimed unpopular, unnoticeable Lily Evans about to sneak out of the castle with the most wanted guys of school. Maybe Hannah hadn't woken her up after all.

Lily watched as Sirius jumped out of his seat and stood in front of the roaring fire place, hands swinging around wildly as if he were telling the story of his life. Lily got the feeling that most of his stories followed the same format, told to an audience who morphed into 5 year old story time junkies with in minutes. All of a sudden, he stopped mid sentence, and began to resemble a squirrel whose territory had suddenly been invaded by Sunday picnic goers. Completely still, right eye mildly twitching.

"They have arrived…" he whispered. Lily couldn't help herself, she involuntary snorted, provoking heads to turn in her direction.

"You must excuse Sirius," Remus began to explain. "He was keen on reenacting the last Quidditch match." He paused for a minute and plastered a goofy smile on his face. "All though he is well aware of the fact that we were _all _bloody there."

Lily always believed that everyone has that one friend who retells a story over and over until the listener can tell it along with them. Sirius, she could tell already, held this position in the Marauders, and they were comfortable enough with each other to chide him about it.

"Well now that we're all here, we might as well leave," he continued. The boys got up and walked toward the portrait hole. Peter, though, said his goodbyes and walked upstairs, the rest of the boys shrugged it off and made it look like it was a regular occurrence. Lily turned to Hannah who raised an eye brow, for years they had been able to have non verbal conversations like these. Lily always thought the Marauders did _everything _together. It surprised her that Peter would not be joining them on their midnight escapade. As they left the common room and journeyed through the winding hallways of Howarts Lily let her curiosity get the best of her.

"So where are we going exactly?" she asked, her question aimed to anyone willing to answer her.

"A party!" answer Sirius, hitting the stone wall next to him in excitement.

"Actually," began Remus with a slight roll of his eyes. "We're going to the Hog's Head."

"The Hog's Head?" questioned Hannah. Lily could tell what she was thinking. The Hog's Head had a reputation for being a hangout for magical beings without the cleanest of records. Most of the 7th years hadn't even stepped inside during the numerous amounts of Hogsmead weekends excluding, of course, a handful of Slytherins. Remus, Lily guessed, also knew what Hannah was thinking of and began to explain himself.

"Three Broomsticks generally isn't open in the middle of the night, besides, no one will recognize us at the Hog's Head." Realization dawned upon the girls faces as they continued to tiptoe out of the school. The boys came to a stop in front of the old one eyed witch statue.

"Dissindium," James whispered as he tapped his wand gently against the statue, a passage appeared behind it and they filed into the darkness. Lily cautiously followed the sandy tuft of hair belonging to Remus, her guiding light in the pitch black of the hidden passageway. After what seemed like hours Lily watched as Remus and the rest of the marauders began to scale a ladder, disappearing into the ceiling.

Even years after, it always seemed to amaze Lily how exactly the marauders discovered their secret rooms and passages. That night, it didn't take long for the group to stalk the empty Hogsmead streets and enter the musty atmosphere of the infamous Hog's Head Tavern. Despite the late hour, the pub was bustling with cloaked figures and odd creatures. Lily and Hannah followed suit as the marauders led them to a booth in a far corner.

"_Classic boys_," Lily thought, not giving them the benefit of the doubt in terms of their hormones.

After a few rounds of butter beer the group could be successfully classified as sloshed, and the timeless game of "I never" began to echo throughout the mug-cluttered booth.

"I NEVER!" began Sirius loudly, holding a mug of butter beer into the air and provoking laughs from on lookers. "fucked a professor." A look of disgust appeared on Lily's face as she made sure not to drink to Sirius's statement. Thankfully, neither did anyone else.

"I never played a quiddich game with nothing under my team robes," laughed James. A sly look crossed Sirius's face as he took a sip of his drink.

"That's pretty sexy, Sirius," smirked Hannah, Sirius winked.

"I never…. Dated a muggle," Remus said. Hannah looked cautiously towards Lily. A slight smile appeared on Lily's face as she took hold of her mug and chugged most of its contents, as the beer disappeared so did the guards she had placed against these people since she entered Hogwarts. _Screw Sumner_. As she lowered the glass she felt three pairs of eyes on her. It wasn't common for witches or wizards to date muggles, and Lily had never really talked about Sumner to anyone other than Hannah.

"I never used someone just to fool around," Hannah said quickly taking the attention away from Lily. James, Sirius, and Lily all took gulps of their drink without a second thought.

"A good shag is a good shag!" laughed Sirius.

"Fuck," blurted James, glancing at his watch.

"Yes, James my boy I suppose you could call it a fuck as well. They're all welcome in my book," slurred Sirius.

"No, you don't understand. Look at the time. We've got an hour till breakfast." Everyone quickly slid out of the booth and Remus tossed some sickles onto the table without bothering to check how much exactly he was giving out. As she ran, Lily's mind raced with excuses for not going to class, for sobering up in time, for curing a hangover in thirty minutes. The first day of school and she was already going to get into trouble. The thinking slowed her and before she knew it James was dragging her along by the hand and telling her to hurry up.

"James Potter is holding my hand," she thought dazed. "James fucking Potter is holding my hand. What the hell is going on?"

They ran down the passageway and through the hall back into the common room, only to be greeted by early risers making their way to breakfast.

"GOOD MORNING GRYFFINDOR!" yelled Sirius as he jumped on James' back, the alcohol obviously not wearing away.

"Bugger off Padfoot, we gotta get cleaned up," moaned James as he threw Sirius off. Lily figured that skiving off morning classes wasn't on his mind either. Lily caught Hannah's attention and they made their way up the girl's staircase and into their room. Their two other roommates, Elliot and Liz, flashed them wondering looks as Lily rushed into the bathroom to see what wonders she would create with carefully applied makeup, a hair brush, and breath mints.

"Lily are you ready? We have to go," called out Hannah. Lily, still not in her school robes motioned for her to go on without her.

"I'll be there," she promised.

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"Lillian Evans, you're late," announced Professor McGonagall as Lily slinked into her transfiguration class, fingers crossed hoping that she wouldn't get caught.

"I- I know.." began Lily, trying to tame her messy hair. Sirius bust out laughing while Remus elbowed him in the ribs to shut him up.

"And I suppose you find this funny do you Mr. Black? You of all people should be perfectly aware that I do not tolerate tardiness."

"Oh Minerva, you see it was only a few hours ago that myself James and Remus were busting our asses to make it to your class on time while our dearest Lily here does not posses the talent of covering up a good night. So in fact, I am well aware of your low tolerance for tardiness." James laughed uproariously and McGonagall fumed.

"My class room is not a place for you to entertain Mr. Potter. Intoxication is also something we do not accept at Hogwarts. You will be pleased to know that you have the year's first detention," she turned to James who was trying to stifle his contagious laugh. "And over the years it has become quite apparent that you do not do anything without this one, so Potter, you will have the honours of joining him."

The Professor began to walk away as Lily took a seat next to Hannah, thankful that McGonagall had been distracted by Sirius's remarks and had forgotten about her. She tried to follow the remainder of the class despite her pounding headache and queasy stomach. As the bell rang and everyone began to pack up, McGonagall placed her hands on her hips and pursed her lips in Lily's direction.

"Don't think that I have forgotten about you Ms. Evans. You will also be receiving detention for being late and 10 points will be deducted from Gryffindor."

Lily sighed and began to walk out of the class room only to be greeted by Sirius and James outside the door.

"So Lily," began James, slinking his arm around Lily's shoulders and leading her through the halls. "I guess this means we'll be spending yet another night together experiencing the wonders of scrubbing bed pans in the hospital wing." Lily laughed as James and Sirius nodded their heads and shook hangs with numerous people in the hall, many of whom Lily hadn't seen before.

"Any regrets?" asked Sirius.

"If nothing," began Lily. "The look on McGonagall's face was worth it all."

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"Well what did you get?" Hannah asked Lily at lunch as she bit into her sandwich.

"Nothing too bad," answered Lily, pushing around the untouched food on her plate. She had learned that by doing this it looked like you had at least tried it. "Tonight I have to scrub the floors of the Great Hall, but the Sirius and James have it with me, at least I wont be alone."

"That's true." Hannah paused. "You know what's odd," she began. "For the past six years the only contact we'd had with the marauders was the occasional eye contact in the hall or asking to borrow a quill. Now it seems like all of a sudden they want to hang out with us."

"I've been thinking the same thing, there must be a catch," answered Lily.

"No, I don't mean to be a pessimist. I don't think there's any catch here. I just wonder what's different about us this year compared to before."

"Well it certainly can't be the fact that our boobs have gotten bigger. Puberty seemed to have blessed us at least by 4th year," smiled Lily. Hannah laughed.

"Then what the fuck could it be?" She asked feigning astonishment and playing along.

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Nearing ten o'clock Lily walked down the stairs an into the Great Hall. All of the tables had been put away and Filch the Caretaker was standing in the middle of the floor, arms crossed and foot rhythmically tapping. Lily scanned the room and was surprised to see James leaning against the far wall by himself, foot propped up behind him and his unruly, black hair sweeping down across his forehead. Not realizing he was being watched he yawned and scratched his stomach, unconsciously lifting up his shirt in the process to reveal the band of his boxers and a flat, muscular stomach.

"Well now that you've arrived I guess you can begin," Sneered Filch, snapping Lily out of her daze. James looked up, his lips slowly parting into a smile.

"See ya, Filch," he smirked. The caretaker shot him a dirty look and left.

"Where is Sirius?" Lily asked. She had expected him to be here helping them.

"The teachers know by now not to give us the same detentions," laughed James. Lily smiled, wrecking havoc while compensating for the last prank pulled was something she definitely didn't put past them.

Not long after the pair had begun scrubbing on their hands and knees had James sat back upon his feet and looked at Lily. She stopped and gave him a quizzical look.

"You know," he began. "We've been going to school together now for 6 years now and I feel like I hardly know you."

"Oh, well we never really hung out with the same people. I mean, you _are _James Potter."

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow and setting down his sponge. It dropped to the floor with a thick _splat_.

"You know what I mean. You're.. _popular_," she raised a soapy hand and brushed it against her forehead. "You do whatever you want whenever you want to. People admire you. Girls swoon over you, lets face it you could date whoever you want."

"I don't know why people always assume that. That I have this perfect life. People never take the chance to get to know me, they think that intimidating or unapproachable. And in terms of girls," he began with a forced smile. "Believe me when I tell you that I can't get anyone I want."

Lily found that hard to believe, she wondered why James was telling her all of this, why all of a sudden he wanted to get to know the real Lily Evans after six years of looking through her. The invisibility cloak had dropped and she felt like she was standing there naked, baring her soul and waiting for it to be judged.

"Well how about you?" James said breaking her train of thought. "Tell me about this muggle you dated," he inquired. "If you don't mind me asking," he added.

"Oh." Lily was surprised James had even remembered what had been said the previous night due to the mass amounts of butter beer they had all consumed. "Well what's there not much to say really, we went out on and off again ever since I can remember and then it ended. For good."

"Judging by the look on your face whenever the subject of him is brought up I'm guessing there's more to it than that, I saw your expression last night when it was brought up. The way Hannah looked at you. How you seemed to chug down that butter beer as if it was your dying wish."

"I don't know," Lily began, not sure if she wanted to go into the details of her rocky relationship with someone she barely knew. She wasn't sure if she was even ready for it period, but James had opened himself up to her. If he could trust her then she supposed she could trust him, _a little_. "Sumner was like a drug, an addiction," Lily paused as if planning her next words carefully. "Nothing about him could be done halfway. You were either in it all the way or you weren't. He'd sweep me off my feet and then watch me as he let me hit rock bottom. Nothing was for sure, nothing was guaranteed. And while I was with him it was like I couldn't get enough of him. He saved me from my shitty life and I did what he wanted. Case closed. Then the day I left for Kings Cross he ended it for the last time."

James paused for a moment and looked at Lily as if soaking her in for the very first time. Lily didn't know how to respond to that, she didn't know if James saw her differently now or not.

"And the hair?" he asked.

"What about it?" Lily questioned, automatically smoothing her hand over the top of her head.

"The colour." James began. "I remember the first time I saw you. You were sitting beneath the sorting hat and the red contrasted so much with the faded black that I couldn't help but just stare at it. From that point you intrigued me you know. I had never seen anything like it. Then you came back for winter break during 5th year and it was black. I never really understood why."

Lily was about to give him the "I just wanted a change" speech when she stopped herself. She had already spilled about Sumner, so why not tell him the truth about this. He seemed like someone she could trust and for the first time in a while she felt oddly idyllic. The serenity baffled her mind as she cocked her head to the side and braced herself. She was about to reveal pieces of herself that not many people had seen before. She hardly expected to show herself to James Potter.

"I was never one to want to stand out. I hated having people look at my hair and sigh, telling me how beautiful and unique it was. I didn't consider my self unique, and hardly beautiful. I wanted to blend in with the crowd. Go unnoticed. Pretty much just disappear. The hair didn't go with who I was so I dyed it."

"I think you're beautiful," James said softly, his hazel eyes locked with hers and a soft grin began to appear. As Lily's heart began to race she couldn't deny that she was beginning to fall for his charm. James Potter was the only person at Hogwarts who had forced her to open up. And she was letting him in.

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a/n: to be honest I want sure if I really wanted to update this. I had written the previous chapter during a low point in my life as a sort of outlet I suppose. It wasn't until one of my good friends suggested updating that I really took it into consideration. So thanks (you know who you are!), for letting Lily open up again. And thank _you _for reading this and please review. I want to write this fic as well as I can and your comments and suggestions are the only way I'll be able to do that.

Thanks again-

Padfoot 356.


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